Conor McGregoris about to make his movie debut in the Jake Gyllenhaal-led remake ofRoad House, the 80s Patrick Swayze vehicle. One person who it seems won’t be watching is Hollywood veteranLiam Neeson, who recently took aim at McGregor and UFC, saying that the fighter “gives Ireland a bad name.”
Neeson has played plenty of action roles in recent years, and although he is fond of a violent approach to beating up the bad guys, in real life, it looks like he isn’t a great fan of UFC’s style of violent entertainment. While putting down the sport with a couple of swift jabs, he also took a swing at McGregor, who he clearly isn’t a huge fan of either. Speaking toVariety, Neeson said:
“UFC I can’t stand. That to me is like a bar fight. I know the practitioners are like, ‘no, you’re wrong — the months of training we do …’ Why don’t you just grab a beer bottle and hit the other guy over the head? That’s the next stage of the UFC. I hate it. That little leprechaun Conor McGregor, he gives Ireland a bad name. I know he’s fit, and I admire him for that. But I can’t take it.”
Neeson is currently set to star in a reboot ofThe Naked Gun, where he is expected to play the son of Frank Drebbin, the character played by Leslie Nielsen in the original movies. While few details have been revealed about the reboot, Neeson recently confirmed that it is moving ahead.
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Is Conor McGregor About to Make a Successful Leap to Acting?
Conor McGregor was previously rumored to be taking on a role inGame of Thrones, but that didn’t happen, and was also said to have turned down a lead role in Shane Black’sThe Predator. For that reason, his upcoming appearance inRoad Housewill be McGregor’s first starring role in Hollywood.
Road Houseis currently filming in the Dominican Republic, and images from the set were recently shared on Twitter showing both McGregor and co-star Jake Gyllenhaal getting wet in some of the movie’s action scenes. While the remake will take a lot of inspiration from the original 1989 movie, which starred the late Patrick Swayze as a “cooler” employed by a roadside bar to deal with the riffraff, the film will also be changing up the story a little.
Details of the plot revealed that Gyllenhaal’s character, Dalton, will be a former UFC fighter taking on a bar job in the Florida Keys. Beyond that, though, the plot seems to follow the original, with Dalton soon discovering that “not everything is what it seems in this tropical paradise.” Although the original movie didn’t gain the greatest reviews, the film has gone on to become a cult movie with a dedicated following who will undoubtedly be looking for a punch-up if the movie doesn’t do right by the original. But, according to Neeson’s comments, McGregor should be more than ready for a bar brawl to settle things.
